The present invention relates generally to fail-safe Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) systems.
Critical safety systems such as those used in a vehicle typically utilize controllers to monitor vehicle operating conditions and employ controlling strategies for vehicle safety functionality and operations. In controllers that monitor safety-related operations, a redundant controller is required. For example, an IMU used to sense linear accelerations of a vehicle is typically a 5 degree of freedom (DOF) or 6 DOF IMU. For backup purposes should the IMU fail, a redundant IMU is utilized. The redundant IMU is identical to the main IMU having the same DOF. However, utilizing an identical IMU having the same DOF is expensive. As a result, it would be beneficial to reduce the cost and burden of utilizing redundant IMUs, but still maintain the safety monitoring and controls of the primary IMU.